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Not all contamination is slimy or moldy. Sometimes a mushroom substrate can unintentionally produce unwanted mushrooms.

Presenting an informational collection of images of contaminate mushrooms growing on cakes or in trays. The list is rather short so you should be able to find your rogue mushrooms here. If you find something completely different, let me know and I'll add it to the list. All images are of actual contaminate mushrooms observed and documented by members of the Shroomery forums.

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#1 Schizophyllum commune (Common Split gill)

This is an extremely common contaminate mushroom, often mistaken for small Pleurotus (oyster mushrooms). The mushrooms start out looking like a tiny flask before flattening out to the mature fan-like form. This species has a worldwide distribution where it is usually found growing on wood. Despite it being a highly successful wood decaying fungus, it seems just as happy on rice flour and vermiculite.

Reported in the forums several times a year, with reports spiking in the summer months. Forum posts suggest that the usual source of this mushroom contaminate is natural environmental spore load.

This species is actually edible, but is usually designated as inedible in guidebooks because of its tough, chewy texture.

A less common but not rare contaminate, sometimes mistaken for Panaeolus or malformed Pleurotus (oyster mushrooms). The mushrooms are small and thin with white spores. The cap and stem are the same color, usually grayish. Reported about once a year on this forum. This is almost certainly a collection of similar species since there is some variability in appearance. Collybia is a possible genus. The contamination source is apparently environmental spore load. Not active or edible, possibly poisonous. DO NOT EAT!

The reports of this rarer type of contaminate are hard to find in the forums since they lack common search keywords, so let me know if I missed any. I am pretty sure I've seen a few more over the years.

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#3 Pleurotus (Oyster Mushrooms)

Oyster mushrooms are a fairly common contaminate but unlike #1 and #2, these rarely (never?) occur due to wild spores. The oyster mushrooms are usually malformed and not immediately recognizable. They are extremely sensitive to the high CO2 levels often found in low-tech passive grow chambers. The lack of adequate air exchange causes reduced funnel shaped caps and elongated stems. Cap color can be white, brown, blue or yellow, depending on the oyster species (pink is possible but has yet to be observed as a contaminate). Stems are white, spores are white to pale lilac.

There are 3 main causes for oyster mushrooms to appear where they are not expected.

A mixup of cultures/trays by the cultivator that is growing more than one species, one of which are oyster mushrooms.

A high oyster spore load from an earlier successful oyster mushroom fruiting has contaminated the cultivation area.

Contaminated spore prints from side by side growing of oysters and other species. This has been known to happen with purchased and traded spores. Oyster mushrooms are very aggressive and can overgrow most other desirable species even if only a few oyster spores are present. Not active, Edible (choice if grown properly)

The far right image by Lorddavros (see Weird link below) shows cubensis and oysters growing from the same cake. An outstanding example of oyster contamination.

A common contaminate mushroom often seen in bulk cultivations using manures, composts, straw or soils. The spores of many coprinoids are thermotolerant and can survive inadequate pasteurization. There are many species but the contaminating types are all fast growing and fragile with most dissolving into an inky liquid at maturity. The cap coloration can be white, brown or gray. The young caps are usually egg shaped, but mature into a bell or parasol shape before melting down. Spores are black. Not active, not edible (some species can be somewhat toxic, but none are considered deadly)

Psilocybe cubensis can contaminate Panaeolus cyanescens (and allies) cultivations and more rarely other species. The reasons are the same as with oyster contamination (see #3 above) with the additional factor of spores intentionally or mistakenly mislabeled (both species have dark spores so the spore prints are visually similar)

Interestingly, trays of fully colonized Panaeolus can produce a normal flush of Panaeolus mushrooms before becoming overwhelmed by Cubensis mycelium and fruiting cubensis for the 2nd and following flushes. This generally happens when both species are grown in close proximity and the grow area is loaded with free cubensis spores. It appears that the Panaeolus colonized substrate is selective for cubensis colonization. This hints at the possibility of sequential use of manure based substrates.

Although Cubensis contamination is common, pictures are almost always of one species or the other. Currently I am only able to find one good Shroomery posted picture showing both species growing in the same container. The two pictures on the right are from the thehawkseye and mycotopia. If I find more Shroomery posted pictures I will replace the the offsite ones.

It depends on what you are calling Inky Caps. If you mean Coprinopsis atramentaria, then yes, you are correct. But if you mean any Coprinoid type, inky melting mushroom that you are likely to find as a contaminate in your mushroom growing efforts, then no.

Hi, I've been a long-time reader of these forums but this is my first actual post.

The reason I'm writing is that I've come across something I've not read about anywhere else. The issue is that I had sterilized bags of PF Tek I was using to grow from inoculation to harvest. When the first harvest came, I cut a hole in the bag, pulled the flowers through, then taped it up again. It all seemed to go really well. The problem is that a couple days later I saw some black growth, and the flowers had stopped growing. I had pretty much given up on it but it wasn't quite trash day yet so I just left it. Here it is, trash day, and now the happy white mycelium has actually piled-up on top of the black (which has since stagnated), overtaking it, and new flowers are now growing big and healthy.

Hi this is my first time growing and i have one substrate that seems to be doing well but there is one part that seams a lot thicker than it should and im not sure if it could be cobweb mold. Is there a way i can tell specifically

This is my first time growing and im using the pf tek method with cakes. The strain is Cambodian and so far this is the only cake that has produced such large fruits. I noticed green colored spots. Is this green peniscillin mold? If so must I dispose of the whole cake or since I caught this relatively early (if it actually is the GPM), could I just pick that mushroom off and leave the cake amongst the others? PLEASE SOMEONE HELP MEEE. Like I said its my first time and so far no contaminations(other than this) in any of the cakes. So Im trying to get it out of there asap if necessary to prevent further contamination. Also could someone tell me what I may be doing wrong? I beleive it very well could be that there is too much moisture in the fruiting chamber. Is this a common result of high humidity? http://

Hello, i grew my first batch and picked about 500 fresh grams from 2 cakes altogether. The last batch wasnt drying as it should so i placed in front of my fan. Have a homemade cardboard box with rice and toilet paper to dry. I placed the box n front of the fan with the lid cracked and now the caps have turned slightly green at the edges and the stems are now bluish and rubbery and soft. Like when i picked them up to flip them over they bent n half like a rubber band. The other batches are golden caps with yellowish stems and cracker dry. thIs is my first time and im lost. Please help

hello guysi am not experienced cultivatori have tried outdoor cultivation for first time and the first mushies i saw were " #4 Coprinoids (Inky Caps) "so i am wondering if my cubes will pin or i have to throw them away?the strain i used was b+ on cow manure and straw (no sterilized, no pasteurized)what are my chances to have some cubes? and will be safe to eat them?

What does this look like to you guys.... Im pretty concerned. There are loads of soft blue one that i harvested from my kit, but as you can see some of them are perfect, others are dingy and blue. What is also strange is that the blue ones were growing right next to the healthy looking ones. All my kits were like this. Did i let them grow too long? Is it the C02 or a bacteria? IM CONFUSED haha, thanks for the help.

Another 'Thanks Workman' here I got one tub out of three that are putting out a really vile smelling Coprinus. You saved me and other members the trouble of IDing this contam.Great work on this posting, easy to understand, yes I must have incompletely pasteurized my 3rd Hpoo/straw/verm/gypsum batch, I was indeed concerned with killing off the good. happy the two large tubs seem OK, I made the smaller one showing Coprinus because I ended up with extra substrate, and imagine this had higher % substrate from the middle of a bag./ Another 5shroom rating 4 U.Here's a post I made:My Cultivation Fail

I have some strange thing happen in my bulk substrate bag. The spawn run was very good with nice looking mycelia. When I transfer them into sawdust bags, at the beginning, everything looked okay. Many small white mycelia spots showing everywhere and growing nicely, but when these white mycelium circles met each other, they didn't merge, instead, irregular shaped spaces with darker color formed between those circles with clear boundary. Is this normal? In addition, some spider web kind of mycelia can be seen growing on the background of the mycelium layer (the third picture). Are these contaminations?